An Innocent Victim

"Innocent Traitor" by Alison Weir
Lady Jane Grey was an innocent victim of her zealous and plotting parents, as well as others that craved power and prestige. She is a pitiable figure in British history, she was later celebrated by Queen Elizabeth I, as a "martyr to her faith."
Jane Grey was born in 1536, or 1537, to Henry Grey Marquess of Dorset and later the Duke of Suffolk, and Lady Frances Brandon. Frances Brandon was the granddaughter of Mary Tudor the sister to Henry VIII. Jane was the eldest with two younger sisters, Katherine and Mary. Mary was born with a deformed back; all three of the girls were made to suffer in their lives for being born females.
Jane was fully educated by the best teachers: in the classics, Greek, French, Latin, and other languages. She played the lute and harp. She is said by some to have been one of the most intelligent women of her century.
The book is fascinatingly told through the eyes, and feelings, and thoughts: of Jane, her mother Frances Brandon, Katherine Parr, Mary Tudor, Mrs. Ellen the nurse to Jane Grey, and John Dudley Earl of Warwick.
Jane Grey was of the reformed faith, she was a protestant. She was devout and knowledgeable in her beliefs. When Henry the VIII died and his son Edward came to the throne, Jane's parents had hoped she would be his queen. When Edward died, her family worked to quickly crown Jane as queen, not only in order for a reigning protestant to continue; but also to forward their plans for power. Mary Tudor the first born of Henry VIII, was waiting with her army of supporters to overtake the throne, and when she did, Jane went to The Tower. Jane had been queen of England for nine days. She had been quickly and unhappily married to Guildford Dudley, the son of The Earl of Warwick. Jane had thought a reprieve would come from Queen Mary, instead she was beheaded on 12 February 1554.
"The executioner ended 'it' with picking up the head of Jane Grey and saying, 'So perish all the Queen's enemies, behold the head of a traitor.'"

www.tudorplace.com
www.englishhistory.com
www.ladyjanegrey.org

A Child Prodigy

"The Life of Motzart" by John Rosselli
Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Motzart,
the world knows him as Wolfgang Amadeus Motzart, born 27 of January 1756. He was born in Salzburg to Leopold and Anna Maria Motzart. His parents had seven pregnancies but only two children survived to adult hood, an older sister Nannerl was five years older. At age five little Wolfgang began composing, he was playing the violin at age six, and the organ at age seven. When he was six he started his European tours. His instrument was the forte piano. He was considered an affectionate son and brother, he was small of stature at five feet four, he was pale.
He had many loves, but he married a Constanze Weber 4 August 1782. Her mother was unhappy, as well as his father and sister. They considered Constanze to be beneath him in education, and she was without money and status. Motzart married Constanze for love, and they conceived six children but only two lived, Karl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang. They were in debt often, they were never wealthy, but they were able to have servants and live well. Motzart loved expensive clothing. He loved and tried to emulate the lifestyle of the aristocracy. After his death Constanze paid off his debts and managed to live a comfortable life, she did re-marry.
Motzart composed more than 600 compositions in the classical era. He had his own style, he was versatile, and explored the chromatic harmony that was rare at this time. He adapted the Baroque style as he grew older. Two opera's that he is well known for are "The Marriage of Figaro and "The Magic Flute." "The Marriage of Figaro" was started in October of 1785 and was performed for the first time 1 May 1786. Their are some who believe that this is the greatest opera of all time. This opera is a comic opera or an opera buffa, it was a light opera with a happy ending. "The Magic Flute" was a quick success, it was his last great work of importance. The opera was in two acts and premiered in Vienna. Mozart died while composing the Requiem a mass for the dead. We are only left to guess of what he died of, the most likely is that of consequences of rheumatic fever that he had as a child, he probably suffered heart valve damage. He died at 1 a.m. on the 5 of December 1791.
I don't know why it has taken me so long to read books on the classical composer's, too many books too little time I guess. This was a very interesting read, well written, well researched.

Sweating Sickness

In the books that I have read recently on Tudor history I have read about the dreaded and feared, sweating sickness. I am familiar with Bubonic plague and other epidemics that were wide spread in Europe, but I had not read anything that gave me a good grasp of understanding of what this sweating sickness was.
Seating sickness also known as English Sweate, is a mysterious disease that comes on suddenly and with much vigor, it starts with cold shivers, headache, severe pains in the neck and shoulders. After the cold stage that lasts half an hour to maybe three hours, then the hot sweating stage begins with delirium, rapid pulse, and thirst. There is no immunity from this disease, a person could be sick with it several times in their life until they die. The cause of the disease is a mystery, it could have been brought over by the French mercenaries that Henry VII used to gain the English throne, the first outbreak of it was at the end of the War of Roses. The disease first came to England in 1485 and the last outbreak was in 1551.

new.icebergradio.com has a free online radio without interruptions of commercials that you can listen to music of all kinds while blogging. I am currently listening to Beethoven, under the classical folder of composers.

A Beautiful Princess

"Elizabeth Grand Duchess of Russia" by Hugo Mager
I read this 349 page book in 24 hours, I just could not put the book down, I read the book even while I was cooking dinner this evening.
Elizabeth was the daughter of Princess Alice, and grand-daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Alice had married Ludwig IV Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. The castle was in Darmstadt Germany. Elizabeth was the second child, the second daughter, she had three younger sisters and a younger brother. She was a mature, compassionate, kind, and loving person, and she was known as the most beautiful princess in Europe. Many men noticed her and were infatuated with her, but she only had eyes for Sergei the Grand Duke of Russia. Her grandmother Queen Victoria had reservations of their marriage, but Elizabeth was insistent that it was a good match. Queen Victoria's children and grandchildren were matched with royalty in several countries in Europe, all were carefully chosen. Elizabeth's father had taught her to marry for love, and she did. It was after the extravagant royal marriage of Elizabeth and Sergei that she discovered there was no passion, and no physical displays of love from her husband. Historians believe that Sergei was a homosexual, there is no proof, only speculation of this. Nevertheless they stayed married until Sergei's death. Elizabeth was dedicated to the poor, and sick, and wounded soldiers, and after Sergei's death she was completely devoted to the cause of helping others, she sold all of her expensive jewelry and lived as a nun until her murder. In Elizabeth's story there are other stories of the Russian royal family; Czar Nicholas II and his wife Alix, Alix was Elizabeth's younger sister. Information is given in the book about their deaths and the deaths of their children. Information is also given about Rasputin, the mesmerizing despot of the royal family and also of others. I have read just enough information on the Russian Revolution for me to want to do further research on this subject, and also to read a little more about Rasputin and Lenin.

Beethoven

My first experience with Beethoven was before I started school, before I started piano lessons, I would pick out by ear on the piano the first few notes of "Fur Elise." I did not know the name Beethoven, I only knew what I had heard someone else play, and I played by ear the notes on the piano. My Mother promptly enrolled me in piano lessons. At age ten I learned to play the piece on the piano that I had tried a few years before to emulate, I still have the music book, at the bottom of the page my teacher wrote, "Splendid! Good rhythm, excellent tone, very good dynamics!" Every Wednesday for eleven years I walked to my piano teachers house for a thirty minute lesson, focusing mainly on classical music, and on composition, and theory. My teacher was strict with having curved fingers, lowered wrist, no long fingernails clicking on the keys. She was a strict, disciplined woman, that had devoted her life to teaching the piano, piano was her passion. I still play the piano, but not as often as I should. The piano calls out to me sometimes, calling me to come and touch its ivory and black keys, to fill the air with music. Music is a passion that once kindled never leaves your soul.
"Beethoven His Life and Work and World" by H.C. Robbins Landon
Ludwig Van Beethoven was born on probably the 16 December 1770, and baptized on the following day. Ludwig's father was a tenor in court Kapelle, and his father gave lessons on piano and singing to the sons and daughters of nobility. Beethoven was studying piano, organ, violin, and viola, by 1778. At age eleven he was compared to Motzart. He visited Motzart when he was a boy and played for him, Motzart made a comment to "watch out for him, he will have something to tell you." Beethoven first public appearance was in March of 1778. His first orchestral performance was in Vienna in 1795, "Twelve Minutes and Twelve Dances" for the annual masked ball. He had dark bushy hair, pock marked face, acted haughty, strong dialect, common, not cultivated. He fell in and out of love easily, never married. He started loosing his hearing in his twenties, and eventually became completely deaf. He died the 26 March 1827 of dropsy of the abdomen, he had been sick for four months.
The book was written completely from the memoirs of those who knew Beethoven personally. Several photos are in the book of him, as well as several photos of some of his compositions.
The photo that I have posted is I believe a very handsome picture of him.

I decided to delete my off to the side listing of my stack of books to be read. In all honesty I have many stacks of books to be read, then I go to the book store, and or library, and then I have a new stack of books to be read. Ah! the life of a bibliophile!
The books I am currently reading are: "Chopin In Paris" by Tad Szulc, "Innocent Traitor" by Alison Weir, "Maid Marian" by Elsa Watson, and "Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia" by Hugo Mager. I have three more books by my side that I have not cracked a page yet: "The First Elizabeth" by Carolly Erickson, and "The Life of Mozart" by John Rosselli.

A Last Wife

"The Last Wife of Henry VIII" by Carolly Erickson
This book is of course a work of historical fiction, but it is fascinating to see Henry VIII, all of his previous wives, his children, and many other historical figures through the eyes, and thoughts, and feelings expressed, of Katherine Parr.
It only became common in the twentieth century that men and women began marrying for love. In previous ages men and women married for dowries, properties, the wishes and commands of parents, and a mutual arrangement in order for the woman to have a man to care for her, and to produce children. Woman were property, servants, and baby makers.
Katherine was Henry VIII sixth and final wife, she also outlived him. They married in 1543 immediately after she became a widow from her second husband. Henry VIII's obsession was to have more son's, his son Edward from his third wife Jane Seymour was sickly, and Henry worried about his health. At this time in Henry's life he was obese and had ulcerated places on his legs, the ulcers oozed and smelled horrific, Katherine was his nurse and also confidante. Historians have wondered to what degree was their relationship, was Katherine Parr a wife as nurse and friend only, or were they intimate. Katherine was a step-mother to the three children of Henry's, she is also known to have helped reconcile his relationship with his two daughters: Mary and Elizabeth. According to this book there was a turbulent relationship between Katherine and Elizabeth which continued throughout the rest of Katherine's life. After Henry's death, she married for love, to Thomas Seymour. Thomas protested his great and undying love for Katherine, but yet he was furtive, sly, and acted inappropriately with Elizabeth. Katherine and Thomas conceived and she delivered a healthy girl named Mary, six days later Katherine died of puerperal sepsis, also called childbed fever. After the age of two nothing more is heard about Mary and she is presumed to have died. Thomas was beheaded for treason less than one year after Katherine's death.

I posted on my other blog awell-wateredgarden.blogspot.com that my dad has had a health crisis and that I made a very quick trip back to the town that he lived in. Dad had a twist in his small intestine, the surgeon removed half of his colon and a small portion of his small intestine, a ostomy bag was not needed. The surgery was a success and dad is continuing to improve and gain strength; but during dad's time in the hospital, he had a heart attack, his atrial fibrillation was not controlled, and he has a bad heart valve in the left ventricle. After a week in the hospital he was discharged to a nursing home where he continued to recover, physical therapy has helped tremendously. We had been told while dad was in the hospital that they did not expect dad to live long, then when dad was sent to the nursing home we expected that dad would live out his life in the nursing home, yesterday I brought dad home! He is still weak, but gaining strength and I am now permanently living back in my parents home in order to care full-time for dad. Dad will have physical therapy in the home several times a week from a home health care agency. It has been a whirlwind of stress, planning, activity, and emotional highs and lows. I am settling back into the home that my parents built, I had lived in this home for several years before in caring for dad, then moved away for over a year. I am settling into a new routine. I am grateful that I have a husband that is as devoted to my dad as I am, we are in this endeavor together.
My newest book to post on is by an author that is well known in the historical fiction community, she wrote several books on the monarchy of England, Scotland, France, Spain. Her books are not meaty, but they are interesting reads. The authors name is Jean Plaidy. I first found her books several years ago in the library, then over the years under new book covers and sometimes new titles in Walmart, Target and chain book stores.
"To Hold The Crown" by Jean Plaidy
The book focuses on the marriage and relationship between King Henry VII and his wife Queen Elizabeth of York, and his insecurities about his right to the throne, and of course the stability of the Tudor monarchy. They had 4 surviving children , at least until youth: Arthur, Margaret, Henry, and Mary. Arthur was the Prince of Wales that was the future King; but he died while he was in his teen years. He had only been married to Katherine of Aragon for a very short time; but their marriage was never consummated. Margaret became the wife of the King of Scotland. After Arthur's death, Henry became the Prince of Wales, and later was King Henry VIII. Mary married King Louis XII of France. The books does not go in to details about the War of the Roses, or how King Henry VII claimed the throne. The book ends at his death.